Scylla Culture
A race born when Vida, the Goddess of Love and Life, mated with a monster (in truth, with Merrebeveil, the Evil God of Slime and Tentacles). They are a unisexual race of only women, who possess the upper bodies of beautiful women and lower bodies with eight tentacles resembling those of octopuses. Their upper bodies often look like those of humans with green-colored hair and eyes, but depending on their parents, there are cases where they resemble Elves, Dwarves, Dark Elves or Beast-people. In addition, if they possess Titan blood, their lower bodies become more enormous as well as their upper bodies. But no matter what race their father is, they are always beautiful. In most cases, their lower bodies have eight tentacles like octopuses, but there are occasional cases where they have nine or more tentacles. Also, legends say that the Scylla of the past had the heads of beasts such as wolves, snakes and dragons on the ends of their tentacles, but this has not been observed in the present day. It is currently theorized that Bellwood and the other champions exterminated all of the mutant Scylla that existed back then, or that this is simply a fabrication by those who wanted to portray the Scylla as an evil race. Perhaps due to the monster that is one of the Scylla race’s parents, many Scylla possess affinities for the water and earth attributes, and there are also many who possess an affinity for the life attribute as well. Because they possess the Water Adaptation, Night Vision and Superhuman Strength skills from birth, contrary to what their beautiful appearances may suggest, they are capable of becoming powerful warriors and mages. Also, many Scylla acquire the Ink Secretion and Enhanced Physical Ability (Lower body half) skills while spitting ink and using their lower bodies. The roots of the lower body’s tentacles contain their own sub-brains, allowing separate action from the upper body. Therefore, a high portion of Scylla individuals possess the Parallel Thought Processing skill compared to other races. Incidentally, if the tentacles of the lower body are severed, as long as the Scylla receives good nutrition, they will regrow. Their lifespans are as long as four hundred years; they grow at the same rate as humans up until their mid-teenage years, and after that, there are individual differences in aging, but upon reaching a certain age, their aging stops entirely. Scylla individuals are acknowledged as adults once they reach this point. They have bright, cheerful personalities, but they often hold grudges if angered once. Although they are a unisexual, female-only race, they do not really have a female supremacist view. But since many believe that men are those who should be protected, it may feel like they hold such a view. Scylla themselves would say that this is simply how roles are divided. There are no Scylla who have registered as adventurers in the Bahn Gaia Continent, but when they do become adventurers, they have flexible qualities that make them suited for fighting both on the frontlines and from the back. However, it is said that they are not well-suited for being scouts. This is due to the fact that while they are able to perform well in open air and inside Dungeons that mimic open areas, the size of their lower bodies become an obstacle in confined human cities and Dungeons that mimic ruins. However, in aquatic environments, they are likely the most powerful allies one can have after Mer-people. Many ordinary Scylla become hunters, fishermen or farmers, and there are also many who are exceptional at dancing and singing as a part of their religion. There are some craftsmen who make dyed fabrics with special dyes created by mixing the ink they secrete with materials such as plants, but the ones who actually do the work are often the husbands and sons of the Scylla. Scylla are born with the qualities of a Rank 3 monster, and they are strong enough that new adventurers cannot face them on flat ground. Even ordinary hunters and fishermen are hard to hold down with several average soldiers. They often build villages in marshlands, lakes and coastal areas. Small villages may be comprised of a single family, but the largest groups of Scylla are the five large villages, each with a thousand Scylla, located in the Sauron Duchy (currently occupied by the Amid Empire) in the Bahn Gaia continent. But what they all have in common is that they do not completely distance themselves from other races; they build their villages relatively close to other races. This is because the Scylla are a unisexual race, so men of other races are required for reproduction. However, they have long been persecuted as targets for extermination by nations and groups of people who are strongly influenced by the Church of Alda, so it is said that they have never formed a nation like the humans. They were once feared for having an insatiable craving for human males, but this is not the case. They eat marine products, meat, vegetables, fruit and even grains. The Scylla that live in their own territory in the Sauron Duchy in particular have been cultivating rice for tens of thousands of years, and it is even said that their farming technology has surpassed that of humans. They mainly worship Vida, her subordinate gods and Merrebeveil, who is said to have become the heroic goddess of the Scylla. There aren’t any races that treat them as an enemy as a whole, but they are very wary of believers of Alda, the God of Law and Fate, as they have a long history of being persecuted by these believers. Their view on love is typical of Vida’s races; they marry particular husbands, but their relationship is then cut off about ten years after their child is born. They cooperate while their child is still small, but after ten years, the child grows to some extent and no longer needs so much care, so there is no problem in the parents separating after that. Of course, most married couples have feelings for each other even after ten years pass, and it is more common for couples to continue their married relationship after that. Also, although it is called marriage, it is common for a single husband to be surrounded by multiple Scylla, and for a single Scylla to serve multiple husbands. Though its origin is unknown, the Scylla have a peculiar marriage proposal ceremony where they make a courting display by dancing and singing with their upper bodies visible above water, and the marriage proposal is established when the man accepts by approaching the Scylla and calls out to her or embraces her. Misunderstandings can easily arise from this marriage proposal ceremony; many men mistake the singing, dancing Scylla for drowning human women and try to save them, and this ceremony was often seen as the Scylla pretending to be drowning women and trying to make the men that try to rescue them drown. The ceremony has become disused in the present day; it is now only performed by shrine maidens during religious ceremonies or by old-fashioned couples. Scylla are fertile, and lay around three eggs on average in a single clutch. The eggs hatch after about a year, giving birth to new children. Category:Species Category:Scylla Category:Scylla Culture